Various devices exist for stirrer sticks which are coated at an end with sugar for stirring into coffee or tea. However, such devices do not include a means for dispensing an incremental unit dosage of a sweetener.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,061,783, of Hoffman, 3,312,555, of Rossi, 3,252,803, of Belascio, and 3,869,555, of Henonis, each describe a stirrer stick having a sugar or other flavor enhancer attached to the stick, wherein the sugar melts in the drink.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,322, of Fiorella discloses a hollow flavored stirrer for alcoholic beverages. U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,231, of Spee describes a stirrer which has a holder portion to hold a sugar lump for mixing in a drink.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,154,418, of Lovell and 3,386,837, of Arnot describe spoons with flavoring attached to the bowl portions of the spoons. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,469,589, of Barricini and 2,281,267, of Chapman as well as British patent No. 279,758, of Landsberg describe eating utensils with coated confectionary.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,991, of Yatka describes a chewing gum with time release sweeteners, where the time release occurs due to the reaction of the components of the sweeteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,809, of Botzler and U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,929, of Lowe both disclose hollow dispensing stirrer straws.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,268, of Tsau also discloses a process for preparing a hollow containing stirrer straw and product thereof.
The distinguishing features from the prior art of Botzler '809, Tsau '268 and Lowe '929, do not have separator means for compartmentalizing the granulated material into small doses and, nor do they have valve means interacting with these baffle plates or separators, such as sleeves or flat shutters acting as valves to allow the beverage to interact with only exposed portions of a sweetener.
Tsau '268 is primarily involved with a process for preparing a comestible contained in a stirrer straw. The device for dispensing the product does not permit the user to adjust the product dose.
While the Boltzer '809 invention relates itself to a multi comparable combination package and stirrer device, the utilization sealing tabs, which the user removes to pour the contents into a beverage, there is no apparatus as in the present invention to permit precise user selection of dose amount of one or more additives.
Lowe '929 describes a perforated hollow tube for dispensing soluble granulated material with attention to limiting fluid leakage from the tube after use. There is no means for user adjustment of dose.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,102,465, of Montesano includes a canister for condiments, Such as tea leaves with an outer perforated dispenser which does not provide a seal; it delivers tea leaves by gravity delivery.
In Montesano '465, there are no barrier separators or inner structural plates inside, to give someone an ability to determine how much quantity of condiments to disperse. Montesano '465 does not set a precise method of delivery unit dosages of a sweetener, such as sugar, within a beverage. None of the prior art patents use barrier plates to adjust dosage in increments.
Montesano '465 is concerned with liquid dripping out of applicator. A telescoping exterior is provided to close up the canister between uses, not to expose a predetermined dosage unit. It does not have barriers between those usable deliverable units and those isolated for future use.
Furthermore, many types of controlled-release dosage forms have been devised for the drug industry. These are designed to release drug substances slowly for prolonged action in the body.
For example, coated beads or granulates are used. A solution of the drug substance in a non-aqueous solvent (e.g. alcohol) is coated Onto small inert granules or beads which may be composed of sugar and starch. Some of the beads are left uncoated to provide an immediate drug release. Coats of liquid material, such as beeswax or a cellulosic material, e.g. ethylcellulose, are applied to the remainder of the granules with some receiving few coats and some receiving many. The various coating thicknesses produce a sustained-release effect.
Microencapsulation is a process by which solids, liquids, or even gasses are encapsulated into microscopic particles by formation of thin coatings of a "wall" material around the substance to be encapsulated. Coacervation is the most common method. It involves the use of hydrophilic substances which act as the coating material. These may be natural or synthetic polymers, including shellacs, waxes, gelatin, starches, cellulose, acetate phthalate, and others. Wall thickness from 1-200 um determines the delay in releasing the drug.
Matrix devices make use of insoluble plastics or hydrophilic polymers. Generally the method of preparation involves mixing the drug with the matrix material followed by compression of the material into tablets. The primary dose to be released immediately is placed on the tablet as a layer or coat; the remainder of the dose is released slowly from the matrix.
As noted above, in a sweetener release in a chewing gum, Yatka '991 does not use drug type time-release mechanisms but instead reverts to mixtures of different sweeteners which achieve the desired dose/time relationship naturally.
The coating materials used in the drug techniques are in appropriate for beverage sweeteners, since they may have adverse effects when used in beverage sweetening applications. For example, the lipid formulations may form an unsightly "oil slick" floating on top of a cup of coffee or tea. They may also adversely affect taste; which is not a problem for the drug delivery application.
Finally, there is the question of applicability any "time-release" technique, by definition, will increase the time it takes for the sweetener to dissolve. This is not good for beverage sweeteners. For example, to provide a stick which provides a "uniformity of sweetness per stir revolution", the consumersend-user would have to be educated to expect this result. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to achieve this result anyway. The rate of solubility of sweeteners as well as time release coatings is time dependent as well as temperature dependent. Other factors that may affect these rates are pH and degree of agitation, such as diffusion vs. turbulent convective flow, Reynolds number, etc. The human factor is another problem, such as the desirability for a stir slow, or fast or medium. This determines the time to dissolve. By linking the stirring activity to desired sweetness, the other use of a stirring stick, to stir the contents of the beverage is compromised. To uniformly mix cream and coffee may result in too sweet a beverage.
In general, the prior art reviewed reveals a wide variety of approaches to stirring sticks which introduce flavoring agents to liquid beverages. Some use solid masses of agents while others are designed to dispense granular sweeteners or flavorants. In some patents the need to control the amount of sweetener added to the beverage is addressed in a crude manner. Heonis '555 has two solid masses; the bottom one can be broken off and discarded. Hoffman '783 talks about artificial sweetener in discrete spots on the stick wherein each spot or segment is equivalent to a spoon unit of sugar. The user is expected to suspend the stirrer at the correct level while stirring to control the amount of Sweetener permitted to dissolve, as this can compromise the effectiveness of the stirring. Arnot '837 teaches a cover that comes off in hot water so that the automatic opening of the package permits hygienic preparation of the beverage by a consumer with dirty hands. Several of the patents combine multiple ingredients in the same stirrer, as in Botzler '809.